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fuel guage indicator on prius 05

Michael B, et al.: I've noticed that some gas station pumps have a more sensitive automatic shutoff than others, so I try to go to those stations first. I always fill the tank at one square left--either blinking or not.

I can usually fill at full flow rate (full squeeze on the handle) for most of the time, and I may have to adust the nozzle angle. After the pump shuts off the first time, I have to fill more slowly. I have also tried just barely inserting the nozzle into the fill tube and letting the gasoline trickle into the tank. I can usually get an extra 1/2 to 1 gallon in the tank this way. HOWEVER......you have to be careful here because I once over filled the tank, the bladder "burped" and about a half-gallon of gas leaked onto the ground!

As I mentioned way back near the beginning of this discussion, the outside temperature has a large influence on how much fuel you can put in the tank. I can only fill out 6-8 gallons in the winter (Dayton, OH) and I get around 9-11 gallons in the tank in the summer. I get about 360-400 miles/tank in cold weather and 480-530 miles/tank in the summer.

I drive an '05 Prius, I've heard anecdotal reports of '04s having worse problems, but I don't know anyone with a Gen I Prius.

When people post to these discussions, they should state which model year they drive because some of these problems get fixed year-to-year even though the model is the same and it will help others to realize if this problem has been fixed in later years.

fuel guage indicator on prius 05

I have owned my car for 3 weeks
2004 Prius
It had a fuel smell since day one.
The car does make a hissing sound when parked in the driveway & turned off. ( after a bit of driving)
No leaking has been noticed on the drive way.
The smell has come and gone.
Can anyone elaborate?
Thanks
Bob

fuel guage indicator on prius 05

Hi,
I bought a 2006 Prius the beginning of June 2006. Today I ran out of gas for my first time... this is my fourth tank fill-up. I get about 52 mpg and about 1 bar drops on the gas gauge about every 50 miles.

I had only been able to get around 10 gallons of gas in the car every time I get a fill-up and so I assumed incorrectly that I must have a couple of additional gallons in the tank when the last bar started flashing. I learned that when I put 10 gallons in the tank, that was all it had.

So, I assumed I ran out of gas when all the lights came on so I pulled over right away. I did not dare run my battery low because I thought that could cause problems. My wife brought me some gas (2-3 hour wait for AAA), started the car and all the lights turned off. From now on I will get gas soon after the light starts blinking since I was able to go only about 30 miles after it started to blink (got about 530 on this tank).

fuel guage indicator on prius 05

I think the bladder was a bit of overkill. I'd rather have a bigger tank without a bladder and lose 0.01% to evaporation. The odd time I happen to get a bit more gas into the tank and it pukes out a pint onto the ground has more than made up for what I've saved from no evaporation.

glad to see commonality in this

I just bought a used '05 prius w/ 22 K mi - after 1 wk, had same described gas fillup problem. Relieved to learn about the 'gas bag' situation and that it's not a problem specific to my car! I'm guessing the bag concept with zero evaporatives is one req'd component for the PZEV rating. After reading all of this, though, I will nervously fill up every 200 miles, it being winter in Chgo!

Good rule of thumb: When you hit the second to the last bar, plan to go fill it up. I've used that rule since mine was new in '05. NEVER have I run out of gas. That last bar means you have less than 30 miles. If you leave your house in the morning and you see 2 bars, and you know you'll be driving about 20-30 miles into the city to get to work, FILL IT UP FIRST. On the other hand, if you're only going to the store down the road, you're probably ok filling up on your way home. Even better, as my dad always said, "fill up your tank when it gets below half...you never know when you'll have an emergency and need to drive somewhere, and won't have time to stop for gas". As a side not, I haven't run out of gas since I was in high school, and I'm almost 50 now. Just don't run your gas tank down too far and you'll never have to worry about it, even in a Prius.

Bumping up this thread

Bumping up this thread again. Did anyone ever learn what was causing their gas smell? I have an 05 Prius, and while the car doesn't smell like gas, my HAIR does after every time I drive. Window up, window down, recirc on, recirc off, doesn't seem to matter, so I'm assuming it is something related to the car. FWIW I've never had a problem running out of gas/erratic mileage on fill-ups.